BEIJING, May 22 (Reuters) - A blast in the capital of China’s western region of Xinjiang killed and injured an unknown number of people after explosives were hurled from two vehicles, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

The vehicles rammed into shoppers in an open market in the city of Urumqi at 7:50 a.m. on Thursday (2350 GMT Wednesday), Xinhua reported, citing witness reports. Explosives were flung out of the vehicles, and one of the vehicles exploded.

A small business owner told Xinhua he had heard a dozen big bangs.

China has blamed a chain of violent attacks in recent months on militant separatists from Xinjiang, the traditional home of the ethnic Uighur people. (Reporting By Megha Rajagopalan and Hui Li)